World Cup games shift network traffic peaks, increase app use

Facebook says that 88 million users generated 280 million likes, posts and comments related to the final match of the FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile Twitter says its users were tweeting at the rate of 618,725 tweets per minute.
Allot Communications has been monitoring mobile application traffic related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and said that real-time data shows that use of apps such as ESPN, BBC sports and Eurosports increased 300% over average levels during game times.
Social media use shot up as well, with traffic for apps such as Facebook and Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp and Skype Chat up 200% over average use during the games. Allot reported that at the beginning of games, photo sharing through WhatsApp was up 30% from typical use.
“Our analysis of mobile traffic surrounding the World Cup games definitely showed us that it’s all about the online experience,” said Yaniv Sulkes, AVP of marketing for Allot Communications. He said that during the Italy vs. Uruguay game, YouTube traffic was boosted by 40% right after the “biting incident” involving Uruguay’s Luis Suarez.
“This clearly demonstrates the widespread digital lifestyle where app adoption is strong and is particularly engaging around major events like the World Cup – a fact operators should note and leverage,” Sulkes added.
The World Cup games shifted peak traffic times outside of normal hours, Allot noted, which has major implications for network planning. In Latin America, afternoon games caused peak traffic to occur during the game instead of the usual evening hours. Traffic patterns were normal on days with no games, but had two peaks on days when two major games were played.
Brazilian operators put major efforts into preparing for expected crowds of 600,000 foreign visitors or more, into both indoor and outdoor network coverage and monitoring. Watch an RCR Wireless News panel on the network implications of the World Cup events in Brazil here.